Building Teams That Work

There is rarely an assignment here at Mitchell Communications Group that doesn’t involve teamwork. We thrive on opportunities to put our heads together and utilize the variety of skill sets that our team members possess.

Part of my job as the video production supervisor on the Creative Team is to understand each of the roles of my teammates. This helps me to assign the best people possible for each project and opportunity that come our way. No matter the job, I believe the following three things are crucial in building teams that work well together and deliver the best results:

Pay attention to personalities. It is important to know how people interact with each other and how their individual work styles will mesh. In most cases, you can’t just remove one person and insert another and get the same result on a project. Who is assigned always matters. Get to know your team, know their work ethic and the things that allow them to do their best.

Assign and define roles. In some cases you might have several teammates who are great at several things, but in order to complete the task effectively, you need to assign and define roles. If everyone knows and understands what they are supposed to do and why they are doing it, the team will function much more efficiently.

Give feedback; learn from each other. It is so important to let your teammates know when they are doing a great job. Give them opportunities to share what worked well for them on an assignment and what didn’t. And finally, be willing to talk about what your team can do better next time.

What do you consider most important in building teams that work? Tell us in the comments below, or tweet your responses using the hashtag #mcgblog.